The tyranny of consistency

Consistency is helpful as a tool for designing user-friendly experiences. Until it isn’t.

Robert Stribley
UX Collective

A rather bizarre image resulting from the MidJourney prompt “the tyranny of consistency” features quite a few similar looking pale creature who appear in seats and bleacher like structures, possibly in judgment of some sort of proceedings. The image is largely in red and a dirty light brown color and appears rather ominous. Overall a lot of Heironymous Bosch or Salvador Dali vibes.
MidJourney output for the prompt: “the tyranny of consistency.” No idea what’s going on, but it does look pretty tyrannical. — Robert Stribley

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

In a recent post on LinkedIn, design system consultant Brad Frost referenced Google’s notoriously baffling 2020 changes to the icons for its popular apps, simply noting, “All this time later, I still consider this decision to be a big mistake.” Erica Hall, co-founder of Mule Design commented beneath: “Foolish consistency. I hate it.”

Screenshot showing Google icons for their most popular apps, which they changed form the ones in the top row to the ones in the bottom. Apps for Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs and Meet.
In 2020, Google changed the icons for their most popular apps from the ones in the top row to the ones in the bottom. Some confusion ensued.

I agree. The problem is Google’s updated icons are more consistent to a fault: You can no longer distinguish between them quickly at a scan.

I often refer to “the tyranny of consistency” (with tongue somewhat in cheek) in my UX classes. My takeaway there is this:

Consistency is an important but sometimes over-rated tool. It’s key in maintaining a coherent experience. But develop an eye to know when to break from it.

To be sure then, in principle, consistency does help contribute to maintaining…

Create an account to read the full story.

The author made this story available to Medium members only.
If you’re new to Medium, create a new account to read this story on us.

Or, continue in mobile web

Already have an account? Sign in

Published in UX Collective

We believe designers are thinkers as much as they are makers. Curated stories on UX, Visual & Product Design. https://linktr.ee/uxc

Written by Robert Stribley

Writer. Photographer. UXer. Creative Director. Interests: immigration, privacy, human rights, design. UX: Technique. Teach: SVA. Aussie/American. He/him.

Responses (78)

What are your thoughts?

The problem is Google’s updated icons are more consistent to a fault: You can no longer distinguish between them quickly at a scan.

Oooooooo... This is a great observation. I feel foolish for not noticing it, despite clicking on Google Maps instead of Google Drive just this morning.

With that in mind, you certainly don’t want to labor to create potentially anemic content just to ensure every screen or element is “consistently” populated.

I see this happening in academic library research guides! Anemic content indeed.

Tool, not rule!

I liked. I'm going to rethink about consistency.
Thanks, Robert :)